A Warriors Fierce Flame
by TeddyBearHuggles
Summary: This story is no longer active, please search for my new story with the name "Warriors Fierce Flame: 2.0" to continue one with the story.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I was playing my new Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends game where Zhu Ran actually becomes a playable character, and I just loved his and Lu Xun's relationship right away. Lu Xun is my favorite character of the entire game, so it only makes sense I guess haha And me, being the fanboy that I am, shipped them instantly. So, then this story came along (; It is going to be a chapter story and I'll try to update as much as possible. Hope there are other Lu Xun x Zhu Ran fans out there to read this :D_

 _POV: Lu Xun_

 _Pairing: Lu Xun x Zhu Ran_

"Master Lu Xun! Please, we must leave this base quickly!" one of the Wu soldiers yelled to me. Glancing around, I let out a soft noise of frustration as I proceeded to abandon the base which I was intrusted to protect. Enemy soldiers had been lying in wait for it, dropping burning sticks which quickly set the small base ablaze. I was suppose to be thinking of a strategy at this point there, where the enemy wouldn't think anyone would be. Apparently they knew the whole time we would go there. The officer waited for me to catch up before continuing his retreat. Zhu Ran was the other officer I had with me and he was currently fighting off the enemies that burned down the camp.

"We need to keep on going! Get caught up with Master Ling Tong and Gan Ning!" I yelled to the other man while he was fighting, keeping my swords in hand, yet not using them. Fighting wasn't exactly my best skill. Officers instead surrounded me, striking anyone down who tried to get close. Zhu Ran looked over after shooting an arrow at another Wei soldier.

"You can't rely on them forever Lu Xun! We need to just keep on going, clear a path this way instead. We can do it!" he yelled back, continuing to press forward.

"Zhu Ran, I am telling you, it's too dangerous!" I yelled back, beginning to chase after my fellow officer, yet I was quickly stopped by 3 Wei soldiers. They attempted to strike me, but I held up my weapon in time. However, as for killing them...Shaking my head, I simply pushed them with the help of my weapons and quickly ran past, keeping an eye on Zhu Ran as he fought.

"Zhu Ran, please listen to me! I know you don't like to, but-."

"For the last time, you are not the boss of me. I can take care of myself!" he yelled, continuing across a narrow mountain cliff. A shadow from above caught my attention and I looked up just in time to see someone in Wei clothing. Eyes widening, I ran after Zhu Ran, getting to him just as the man jumped down towards him, weapons drawn.

"Look out!" I heard myself yell, though I can't remember actually wanting to say that. I jumped towards my friend, pushing him out of the way. There was a horrible pain in my back and then we were falling down the cliff, my arms at first around Zhu Ran, but then they weren't. I closed my eye on the way down, sure that this must be how I die. Then a sharp pain in my head made me see stars and the coldness of water followed. I was barely able to register that I was in the water before I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:** So, I didn't mention it, but Lu Xun's outfit is the outfit from Dynasty warriors 8 (: It is not my favorite outfit, my favorite is his look in the 6th game, but since the character Zhu Ran was only really given a personality and playable character in The Xtreme Legends for the 8th game, I wanted to keep their outfits similar._

 _ **POV:** Zhu Ran_

 _ **Pairing:** Zhu Ran x Lu Xun_

 _Splash!_

The cold water suddenly hitting me like that and how forceful I hit it almost made me pass out. But thankfully, I didn't. Instead, I quickly opened my eyes, coughing a bit and trying to make my limbs work. It was so damn cold! Looking around, I noticed Lu Xun in the water as well, though he wasn't swimming. Instead, he was drowning, his eyes closed. He must have passed out. Quickly, I headed over to my fellow officer, a bit slow at first, but I slowly got faster. I made it to him, putting his arm around my shoulder and my own arm around his small waist. As quick as I could with a 125 lb man holding me down, I started towards the surface. As soon as I was there, I took a large breath of air, coughing a few times. Using my free hand, I wiped the water from my face before turning my attention to Lu Xun.

"Hey! Are you awake, you maniac!? Tackling me like that!" I questioned him, examining his face. He wasn't moving at all, his eyes closed and mouth hanging open slightly. I noticed a bit of blood making it's way down his cheek from his hair. He must have hit his head. Well shit. I started towards land, looking all around me to make sure that there was no one else around. No one that would try to attack us anyways. Lu Xun remained asleep for the 2 minutes that it took me to get there, but he was breathing. I could hear him.

Finally, I made it, dragging Lu Xun up with me. Take a breath of relief, I patted myself, trying to see any spots that hurt more than the other. Well, my arm hurt for sure, there was a hole in my shirt with a cut. My lower back was sore, had a raging headache. But besides, I was in one piece. Good. That was very good. My weapons were still with me, thanks God, but the fire element to them was completely ruined, which just brightened my mood even more. Looking over at Lu Xun, I frowned.

"Thanks for that. Why did you attack me anyways?" I asked him, of course not getting a response. Sighing, I reached over to him and poked his cheek a few times. No response. Pulled his hair. No response. Getting frustrated, I moved my hand down to his stomach. But that's when I noticed something on the ground under him, something that shouldn't have been there. And it was getting eyes widened when I realized that it was blood. And a lot of it to. Quickly, though trying to be gentle, I rolled Lu Xun over on his side, earning a whimper from the other man. On his back, there was a large cut that had sliced through all three of the shirts that he had on and it was bleeding. A lot.

"Shit! No, no no," I panicked, looking around for anything that I could use. His outer shirt! I could cut up the two wings that had there to cover up the cut! I began to undress the unconscious man, it being a bit difficult since he was limp. However, he didn't wake up once as I did this, which actually concerned me. Quickly, I cut up his shirt, making it into a bandage. With another portion, I got it wet and began to slightly clean the cut. Obviously he felt that, as he curled up and whimpered again.

"I know, I know. I just, I'm sorry! I need to get this done," I said to him, biting on his lower lip as I finished that off. Okay, okay good. At least it was clean...sort of. With that finished, I began to wrap the cut up tightly, though he made a noise of discomfort as I did. It still needed to be done though, to stop the bleeding and stop the infection. After that, I put on what remained of his clothes, which was only his white shirt and the red and white one. There wasn't much left as far as the back was concerned, though the shirts were belly shirts anyways. I also cleaned his head and wrapped it up. That cut wasn't nearly as bad, it was just bleeding a lot since it was a head wound. But the cut itself was very small, just had a large bump. Finally, Lu Xun was taken care of.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked all around us. The bottom of the cliff didn't have much at all and we fell a rather long way. I couldn't even see the ledge where we had been before. And that meant I couldn't let our troops know that we were alive. At least they had seen what happened. And as long as they lived to tell Lord Sun Quan, or anyone for that matter, we should be okay. Should be. Frowning, I looked back at Lu Xun, who was breathing steadily. I wasn't sure if he would be okay. It looked like he had gotten hurt quite a lot. Aside from the large cut on his back, there were also smaller looking cuts and rough patches on his skin that almost looked like burns. Maybe he was healing from something. Then again, if he had been in a serious accident, I would have heard about it.

The sound of a horse dragged me from my thoughts and i looked around, tense. I wasn't sure if they were our allies or our enemies. I didn't exactly want to figure it out either. Grabbing my bow, I quickly, yet cautiously, picked up Lu Xun, hurrying into the small wood area and hiding behind a tree. I kept a look out, the sound of the horse drawing closer. This wasn't looking so good. I was sure that if they were our allies, they would be calling our names. Instead, the only sound was that of a horse. A moment later, a man with a black beard and mustache as well as Wei clothing came around the corner, a few lower officers with him. As soon as I saw the two long axes that he had, I knew who he was. Zhang Liao. Gan Ning had been very eager to go into battle when he heard that this apparently great warrior was also fighting in it. And even I had heard stories of this man. He use to be an officer under Lu Bu before he was caught and taken in by Cao Cao. But why was he here?! And it looked as if he was looking around! Why?!

"C'mon! Lu Xun, I would love it if you would wake up right now. I could use the help of a strategist," I whispered, hoping that the other man would just wake up already. Despite my wishing, the man did not stir. Zhang Liao sent his officers a order and they began to look around, weapons raised. He was looking for us then? Eventually, they would make their way over here. So I needed to get out and I needed to get out quickly. I set Lu Xun down for just a moment and took his weapons, which were much heavier than I ever thought they would be, and instead put them in the loops of my pants so they would stay. Then, I picked Lu Xun back up, but instead put him on my back. That way I could run faster. Glancing over once again, I made my way cautiously through the woods, making sure to remain unseen behind the trees, but also made sure that I wasn't making too much noise. And like I had thought, they quickly began to make their way towards the woods, right where I just was. Glancing around, I noticed a small path that would mostly go unnoticed unless you looked hard enough. That would probably be my best bet. At least, I hoped so. I don't know, I'm not a strategist! Moving carefully, I made my way into the small path between the mountains, hoping that I didn't just make a horrible mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I havn't updated in quite some time and I'm really sorry about that ): Been really busy with other things like work and trying to have a social life, failing miserably though. I'll try my hardest to get chapters up in a steady rate.

 **POV:** Lu Xun

 **Pairing:** Zhu Ran x Lu Zun

I groaned as I began to come out of consciousness, attempting to open my eyes slowly. The first thing that hit me was the immense pain that I felt on my back and head. Every other part of me was in pain as well, but not nearly as bad as those particular spots. The next thing that hit was how cold I was. I was absolutely freezing!

I remembered what happened and I right away thought that I was dead. I had drowned or died from lack of blood and now I was waking up in heaven or wherever it was that I was sent. However, after I opened my eyes a little bit, I noticed that I was looking up at the night sky and trees. So, I was alive. Who had dragged me out of the water then? Did I get captured by the enemy?

"Lu Xun?! Hey, are you finally awake?" a familiar voice asked me, catching my attention. Zhu Ran. I forced my head to look over to the voice and I saw Zhu Ran kneeling down next to me, looking at me with concern in his eyes. So, I didn't get captured? I was safe with Zhu Ran? That was a relief.

"I'm awake…," I groaned, coughing afterwards and then winced from the pain of it. A moment later, something was pressed to my lips. Water. I greedily drank what was given to me, coughing once again when it was pulled away. I blinked a few times and looked all around them. We were indeed in the forest surrounded by rock walls. Zhu Ran must have moved me. Good. Ignoring the pain that I felt all through his body, I forced himself to sit up, biting the inside of my lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"Hey! Maybe you should relax for a minute idiot!" Zhu Ran said, putting a hand on my back to steady me. He was probably right, but I felt so exposed lying on the ground like that. Despite my body screaming at me to remain where I was, I managed to sit up with the help of Zhu Ran. I reached behind myself to examine my back first, since that was where I had gotten hurt first. I was in an extreme amount of pain, but the wound had been bandaged. As well as my head. Done by Zhu Ran I guessed.

"I'm okay...what happened? After we fell?" I asked next, looking over at my friend. Zhu Ran sighed and sat back down, poking a stick at a fire that he had apparently made. I hadn't even noticed it. I scooted himself closer to it, trying to get my cold body warm.

"Well, after you tackled me down the cliff," Zhu Ran started, sending a glare over to me,"I dragged us both out of the water. You were hurt pretty bad, so I bandaged you up. I had to use your shirt to do it though. Then these Wei officers came looking for us so I grabbed you and ran up a cliff. They poked around the area for a while, but they eventually left. After that, I got some water, food and just...waited for you to wake up." He sighed softly and looked at me, looking his eyes."Why did you attack me anyways?" Hearing those words, I couldn't help but blush slightly. If Zhu Ran hadn't noticed the enemy when he tried to attack him, I probably did look like a crazy person attacking him like that.

"Zhang Liao. When you were moving across the cliff, he jumped down from above right at you. I just...reacted I guess. I didn't want you to get hurt," I explained with a shrug, looking at him afterwards. Zhu Ran raised his eyebrows after I said that, frowning.

"That wound on your back...do you remember how you got that?" he asked and I nodded, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze.

"When I jumped to you, his swords got me," I replied, seeing the anger flare in his eyes,"If I hadn't have done it, he would have gotten somewhere worse on you. You would have been dead."

"You could have died Lu Xun! If he would have gotten you any deeper than he did, then you would have been dead for sure! You idiot!" he scolded me, getting up and beginning to pace the area around the fire. I simply hung my head, knowing he was right. Certainly I would have been dead if he had gotten me even a little bit worse than he did. But...I didn't want Zhu Ran to die. He was my friend, even though he didn't think we were. I would sacrifice myself for him any day.

"I could have...but I didn't. We are alive. And since we are, we need to get back to our allies," I replied, looking back up at Zhu Ran, who was muttering to himself while he paced, running his fingers through his hair. When he heard my words, he looked over at me and sighed, sitting back down across from me in front of the fire.

"Well, you are right about that. What do you think we should do? We don't even know how to get back up," he replied, tapping his fingers against the ground. I frowned and tried to think of what to do. There was no way to contact any of our people. The ones that were with us saw what had happened though so if they were still alive, then they could go inform someone, hopefully Lord Sun Quan or Gan Ning. Someone close by. But as for what to do until they found them, I wasn't 100% sure. The closest person to us had been Lord Gang Ning and Lord Ling Tong. I knew where they were suppose to be going, so we could head in that direction.

"Okay, we need to rest here for the night. Afterwards, we start towards Lord Gan Ning, trying to find a place up the cliff as we go. Even if there's a spot we can climb easily enough, anything to get where we were before," I replied, nodding my head. It was the best thing that I could think about at the moment. I could tell, however, that Zhu Ran wasn't a fan of this plan even before he said anything.

"How are you going to be able to do that? In case you haven't noticed, you can barely sit up by yourself. How are you going to walk? How are you going to climb if it comes to that? You can't do anything," he replied with a frown. I nodded, knowing that he was right. However, I refused to be a burden to him. Even if it meant him leaving me behind to save himself.

"I will deal with the pain. The cut surely cannot be that bad. We'll just keep it covered and hope that we find help very soon tomorrow," I replied, offering a smile at my friend. The look on Zhu Ran's face clearly showed that he thought I was a maniac. But, it was the best thing that I could come up with in the short time that I needed to think of something. It wasn't a half bad plan either, if I wasn't injured like I was anyways.

"I don't like it, but okay. Just don't slow me down, brat," Zhu Ran finally agreed, scoffing at me. I smiled at him again and nodded, looking down then. My shirt really was destroyed. I liked it too. I couldn't stop the small pout that formed on my lips, sighing. I would get another one.

"Oh, your weapons are over there," Zhu Ran said, motioning towards a tree. Looking over, I saw my swords along with his bow over there. There were a pile of arrows as well that he seemed to have made out of sticks. His other ones must have gotten destroyed after all."And here. Food." I looked over when he spoke again, seeing two fishes being offered to me. I took them with a smile and a thank you, beginning to eat. They were a little warm, he must have just heated them up a moment ago. But they were cooked, and that was all I cared about. As I ate, he began to make more arrows, watching me as well. To make sure I was okay? Maybe.

"You should try to get some more rest soon," Zhu Ran said next, looking away from me to instead concentrate on his arrows. I nodded even though he didn't see it. Rest was probably the best thing for me to do. After I finished the food, I would go back to sleep. It was what I needed in order to heal after all.

"I think I see a fire over there!" those words however made me freeze, my blood running cold.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:**...

 **POV:** Lu Xun

 **Pairing:** Zhu Ran x Lu Xun

"Sir! I see a fire over there as well!" another officer said right after the first. I looked at Zhu Ran, who looked right back at me with wide eyes. Moving quickly, he got up and kicked dirt over the fire to put it out, moving to me next. I offered my hands and he pulled me up quickly, though he seemed to be attempting to be gentle. It wasn't exactly affective and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. After, he ran over to gather out weapons and I moved over to him quickly. My body felt like pins and needles were all over, but I ignored it. I would be in much worse pain if the enemy found us. Once gathering the weapons, Zhu Ran moved quietly, yet quickly with me through the trees in the opposite direction that we heard the voices. There was no way to get completely away from them however. We were slower because of me.

"The trees," I whispered to my friend, motioning up. Zhu Ran looked up as well, seeming to consider it before he just gave in. He moved over to a tree and I followed. The branch was much to high for either of us to reach on our own. But with a little boost…

"Let me help. You won't be able to do it on our own," I whispered, kneeling down a little bit and cupping my hands together. Zhu Ran looked at me and shook his head. He didn't want to hurt me. We didn't have a choice now. The enemy was behind us examining the fire we just put out. They would catch up soon. After another look from me, Zhu Ran sighed and nodded. Putting one hand on my shoulder, he put one hand on my hands. Ignoring the pain, I pushed him up enough so he could grab the branch. It hurt like hell, but it only lasted a moment. Once up, Zhu Ran reached down for me. Jumping slightly, I grabbed his hand, continuing to bite my lip as he pulled me up. He was already breathing heavily from all the work.

"Give me my weapons. You can't carry all of that," I said, holding out my hands. Once again, he looked like he was going to argue, but he handed them over. Putting them in my pant loops, we began to move up the tree so they could see us. We certainly heard them searching around now. It was a good thing we got out of there when we did. Once we were a safe distance up the tree, we stopped, resting on a branch. There were enough leaves that they could see u,s but we could see them if they were directly under the tree.

"Are you okay?" Zhu Ran asked me, touching my shoulder. I was breathing heavily and in much pain, but I was okay. My wound may have re opened though, I wasn't sure. I simply nodded to him and listened as the enemies under us moved around. I heard the voice of Zhang Liao mixed in with the officers. There couldn't have been many of them down there, maybe 6. Easy enough to take on, but Zhang Liao? We would never win against him.

"There's no sign of them around here sir. They must have ran more this way!" an officer yelled fairly close to the tree we were hiding in, making me tense.

"Start moving up that way then. We will capture them no matter how much they run. That boy is Wu's strategist, killing him will deal a blow to them. I'm surprised he didn't die when I got him the first time," Zhang Liao replied, the sound of horse hooves heading this way. Zhu Ran shifted next to me on the branch and I looked at him. He had a frown and a glare on his face, looking as if he just wanted to jump down and kill all of them right now. I held my arm out to him, catching his attention and making him look at me. I shook my head at him, looking down afterwards. I wouldn't be able to help him if he started attacking them out of nowhere. Thankfully, Zhu Ran made no move to go down and the enemies started to head on their way. My heart was beating a million times per second in my chest, but it looked like we were safe. For now anyways.

"We should stay in here until they're pretty far away," Zhu Ran said and I nodded in agreement. We remained in the tree as the officers of Wei moved on their way and sometime within there I had managed to fall asleep against the trunk of the tree

.

.

POV: Gan Ning

"Terrible news! Something has happened!" the sound of someone woke me up from my sleep right away. Bolting awake, I was on my feet in an instant, drawing my weapon and looking around. Everyone else began to stir as well, Ling Tong waking standing as well and looking around. Running up to the small camp we set up for the night was a Wu officer. Frowning, I hurried closer to him, Ling Tong and several other officers at our side.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Ling Tong asked, already examining the officer. The man seemed to be mostly unharmed with only a few scratches here and there. I knew this man though. He was one of the soldiers that went with Lu Xun and Zhu Ran to that base.

"Where's Lu Xun?" I asked next, looking behind him to see if he was just lagging behind. But the only thing that I saw was darkness. My stomach began to knot up then with a horrible feeling. Where was Lu Xun? Was he hurt?

"The base we were in was attacked by Wei soldiers. While we were retreating, a man attacking Lu Xun and Zhu Ran and they fell down a cliff. We don't know if they're alive or not. All of the other men we were with were slain by this man as well," he explained in a hurry, out of breath. My eyes widened hearing those words, looking to Ling Tong, who also looked surprised.

"We need to find them. We need to find them right now! Where did it happen?!" I said, already moving in the direction that the man came from though. Two hands held my arm to stop me though, Ling Tong holding me back.

"Wait you idiot! There's no sense in going out right now when it's dark. If that guy is still hanging around, he'll try to kill us too!" he said, pulling me back. I barely heard a word that he said though and just continued to move forward. Lu Xun was my best friend and if anything had happened to him...I was suppose to be protecting him dammit! I should have fought with Lord Sun Quan to let me go with him before!

"Gan Ning, listen to me! At least wait until the sun starts to come up. A few more hours! If Lu Xun is alive-."

"He is alive! Don't try to tell me that he isn't!" I yelled, turning around and pushing Ling Tong off of me. He stumbled back a bit, looking at me. I knew that he was right, that we should wait. The thought of something happening to Lu Xun though. That was something I couldn't bear to think about.

"Gan Ning please. Okay, let's say he is alive, which I'm sure he is. He would have taken cover. And Zhu Ran is with him. They probably set up camp somewhere. Poking around in the dark isn't going to help us any. We need to send a messenger to Lord Sun Quan and one to Hang Dong. He was stationed close to Lu Xun. He'll look for him and he will find him safe," Ling Tong said, but I shook my head.

"We send a messenger to Lord Sun Quan, but I am looking for Lu Xun. If you don't want you, then you continue on with your mission. I'm leaving to look for him in the morning," I replied to him, pushing past him to move over to where I had previously been sleeping. Ling Tong opened his mouth to argue, but I wasn't going to hear any of it and just glared at him. He said nothing after that and started talking to the officer that came to us, leading him over to get some rest. I stared up at the stars, already antsy and wanting to just go look for him. How was I going to last a few more hours?


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**_ _I haven't updated in awhile, huh? Sorry about that everyone :/ Been really busy and all. But, it's up now. While I was writing it, it seemed a bit weirdly written...Though maybe that's just me. Either way, hope you enjoy!_

 _ **POV:**_ _Zhu Ran_

 _ **Pairing:**_ _Lu Xun x Zhu Ran_

I grunted softly as I jumped off of the branch, standing up straight afterwards and looking all around me. The sun was just starting to come up for the day, so it was still quite dark around the area. There wasn't anyone around though. We would have heard if there were anyways. Nodding, I looked up to Lu Xun, who was looking at me from the branch. He nodded as well and moved so he was hanging off the branch. I could see the pain in his face as he did this. I moved closer to him and reached up, getting a soft hold on him. He let go of the branch and dropped into my arms. I hadn't wanted him to jump straight down from the branch. I set him down afterwards, making sure he was okay.

"I'm alright. Just sore," he replied with a smile, bending over slightly. His back must be killing him. Part of it had opened up last night after our little adventure into the tree. We had somehow spent the night in it, taking turns watching. I did let Lu Xun rest for the most part though with him only having one watch for about an hour. The rest I did myself. Still not sure whether or not that was a good idea on my part. I passed off Lu Xun's weapons to him, since I had taken them down with me so he didn't have to. He smiled with a thanks, putting them where they go.

"We should keep head forward, try to find a way up to the cliff. Will you be alright to walk?" I said, looking to Lu Xun. That was my biggest concern. Was him hurting himself too much as he tried to walk too much. He just nodded though, already beginning to head in the direction that I just mentioned.

"I'll be fine Zhu Ran. Come on, we should move quickly," he replied simply, looking over his shoulder at me, making sure I was following him. And I did, sighing softly before I jogged up to him, walking next to him. He seemed fine as he walked, maybe in a little bit of pain. He didn't quite move as he normally did. But I believed that if it really started to hurt, he would tell me. We walked in silence for a few minutes, me keeping an eye on Lu Xun and him looking around, though he mostly kept his eyes forward.

"Do you think that man is still looking for us? Zhang Liao?" I asked him, catching his attention. Lu Xun seemed to think for a moment, a large frown on his face. Obviously, the idea troubled him as much as it troubled me. I wasn't a weakling by any means, but all of the stories that I've heard about Zhang Liao made me want to avoid him as much as I possibly could. Plus Lu Xun was hurt. No way could he back me up in a fight with his condition, not to mention he didn't fight anyways.

"It's a possibility. It surprised me when he came down the mountain, looking for us. Neither of us are well known within the Wu forces, we're not exactly someone the enemies would go out of their way to try and kill," he replied, earning a frown from me, though I had to admit that he had a point,"I'm quite surprised that he knew who I was. But if we're lucky, he went elsewhere, gave up on the search trying to look for us."

"Lets hope you're right about that," I replied to him, sighing heavily. My stomach growled lightly and I had to bet that Lu Xun was hungry as well. We only ate a little bit last night before those Wei troops found us. We needed to eat something soon. But what? Sure, we could catch some fish, but it would be nice to find something we didn't need to cook so we could keep on moving for the time being. I started looking in the trees, hoping one might be some sort of fruit tree.

"Know of anything that grows around this area?" I questioned Lu Xun after a few minutes of searching and failing to find anything, frowning. Lu Xun didn't reply for a moment, just kept on walking."Did you hear me?"

"Shhh..," Lu Xun replied, ceasing his walking and putting his hand up to my chest to stop me as well. I did stop, looking at him. He seemed to be listening for something. Did he hear Zhang Liaos horse coming back? I listened as well, though I didn't hear anything.

"What are you listening for? I don't hear anything?" I questioned him, frowning. He still didn't reply to me, just looked around for something. I started getting a little annoyed, moving his hand away from my chest as I tried to walk again, but he grabbed my arm.

"Jesus, what?! I don't hear anything! We need to get moving!" I snapped, forcing my arm out of his grasp.

"Birds," Lu Xun replied, making me confused. Before I got a chance to ask what he meant, he was heading towards the trees next to me. I tried to call out for him to stop him, but he didn't listen, just held his finger up to his mouth as a signal for me to be quiet. What was up with this kid? I couldn't leave him behind, so I ran after him to drag him back. As I got closer though, I heard...chirping. Frowning, I looked in the direction he was looking, seeing birds in a bush, moving around in it.

"I told you. Birds," Lu Xun told me, looking down at me with a smile. He took a few steps forward, making the birds quickly move away from the bush and going into the trees instead. I stood there in slight confusion as he walked to the bush. How the hell had he heard that from where we had been. I moved with him, seeing some sort of fruit on the bush.

"Blackberries. Birds are really attracted to them. When I hear a bunch of them together so close to the ground, I figured blackberries might be around," he explained, taking two pouches out from his pocket. Sitting on his knees, he started to pick the little fruits, putting some in each of them. Raising my eyebrow, I scoffed at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"And where did you learn this from?" I asked, never having heard of such a thing before. He shrugged, continuing to put them into the little pouches.

"I kind of anyways knew. I spent a lot of time out in the woods as a kid and the birds always seemed to be around blackberries vines. Then Gan Ning and I were training one day and we heard a bunch of birds. They were eating the blackberries again and Gan Ning confirmed to me that they liked them," he explained, looking over his shoulder at me and smiling,"A bunch of birds that were here also like cherries. There might be a cherry tree might be around here too." He moved away from the bush, starting to look around once again. I looked after him in just a bit of shock and confusion before following him, frowning heavily. How did he know all of this and I didn't? They were just damn birds, how could he know all this from those animals? It was frustrating. Lu Xun, peaked up in the trees, smiling and going up to a tree with a branch hanging really low.

"Found some," he announced and i noticed some small red fruit on the tree. They were cherries alright, not much, but they were still there. Standing on his tip toes, Lu Xun started to pick them, putting them in the bags with the other berries. I noticed one of the birds come over and sit on the branch that Lu Xun was picking from, watching him. With any luck, it was going to peck him away. Right now, I thought that would be pretty funny.

"Here Zhu Ran," Lu Xun held out one of the bags for me to take, a bright smile on his face. That just angered me more and I snatched the small bag from him.

"If you're done playing with birds and berries, we need to get going before trouble finds us," I said to him as I started in the direction we had been heading, for now, not eating any of the fruit that he had found us. I wasn't exactly sure why I was aggravated, I just was. Lu Xun didn't say anything else though, just followed close behind me, eating some blackberries that he had found, looking as relaxed as ever. It was so irritating.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:**_ _So, it's been a while since I updated huh? Almost 2 months. Heh...hehehe... *cough awkwardly* I have no excuses..._

 _ **POV:**_ _Ling Tong_

 _ **Pairing:**_ _None_

"I'm leaving now! As in right now Ling Tong!" Gan Ning shouted over at me for the fifth time in what had to be just about 5 minutes. I rolled my eyes at him and held up a finger, telling him to hold on another moment. If he was in such a hurry to leave, he could help me and the others figure out where they would go for the time being.

"It's too dangerous for all of us to come. Gan Ning and I will go search for Lu Xun and Zhu Ran. I'm putting Chu Giao in charge for the time being. Get everyone to where Lady Shang Xiang is, tell her what happened. She'll make sure that Lord Sun Quan gets a message about what's going on," I said to everyone. No way was I going to let our soldiers go with us, it was far too dangerous for them. The smaller amount of people that we had poking around, the better. Spending time alone with an irritated Gan Ning of course was going to be a pain, but I'd deal with it if it meant we would save Lu Xun and Zhu Ran.

"Understood Master Ling Tong!" Chu Giao replied to me, bowing respectfully before standing straight once more. I was worried, I didn't want to leave them. What if something were to happen? At least Lu Xun and Zhu Ran had one another, all of these officers were rather petty ones. Still strong of course, but without Gan Ning and myself, who knew what would happen if they got ambushed?

"Ling Tong!" Gan Ning yelled at me, snapping me from my thoughts. Sighing heavily, I waved to the group of officers before jogging towards Gan Ning, who was already heading down the path that we needed to go. I caught up to him quickly and touching his shoulder, but he simply shrugged me off. Sighing heavily, I shook my head and kept up pace with him.

"Look, I know how worried you are about Lu Xun. I really do understand. But you need to get your head straight. Because if we're out there, if you don't concentrate and if you're not in the right state of mind, something bad is going to happen," I said to him, but he was obviously ignoring me. His face was mainly expressionless, just set into a hard face as he stared forward. Sighing again, my shoulders dropped and I simply walked with him, keeping up his face pace as best as I could. I had no idea that the two of them were such good friends. I knew that they talked of course, both are good friends of Lu Meng. But this deep of friendship and worry? I didn't imagine that they had that, though that was only going on the information that I had of course and that wasn't much. I didn't hang out with Gan Ning nor was it like Lu Xun and I were best friends. Scratching the back of my neck, I looked around the area, trying to guess how long it would take us to get to where the officer told us that the two of them had fallen. By my rough guess, it would take at least 2 days, and that was 2 days without stopping at all. This was going to be a rather long, tedious 2 days…

.

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 _ **POV:**_ _Lu Xun_

 _ **Pairing:**_ _Zhu Ran x Lu Xun_

"Hey, you think we might be able to climb up there?" I asked over my shoulder towards Zhu Ran, who was drinking water from the lake. He looked up when I spoke, grabbing his bow off the ground and headed over. I pointed up to the part that I was looking at as he came over to inspect it as well. We'd been walking for what had to be about 3 straight hours, trying to find even a glimmer of something to help us. It was only now that I found a place that we even had a chance of climbing up. But Zhu Ran obviously didn't look too sure as he simply shook his head, placing his hand on his hip.

"It would be a hard climb, even if we were in mint condition. And clearly, neither of us are. Especially you," he replied with a look at me, already starting to back up. But I shook my head in argument, examining the rocks a bit more.

"Look, the rocks are in a way that it's basically like a ladder. There's parts where we can grab onto a step on without a fear of falling. And yeah, it's gonna be tough hoisting ourselves up, but I know that we will be able to do it if we try," I replied, looking at him with pleading in my eyes,"It's the best we've got so far Zhu Ran. We have to at least try." Zhu Ran looked at me, still doubt in his eyes.

"I don't wanna risk it. You're wound is still so new Lu Xun and the last thing we need is it firing up again halfway through the climb. Then what? You survived the first fall, but this cliff isn't next to a lake this time. If you fell, it would for sure kill you this time," he replied.

"Zhu Ran, I'm telling you I can handle-."

"And I'm telling you that we are not taking our chances with this Lu Xun!" Zhu Ran yelled back, causing me to flinch slightly. He turned around and scratched the back of his head a bit, hand on his hip as he seemed to be thinking this through. Turning back around, he pointed towards me."You're hurt bad Lu Xun. That climb, you wouldn't even be able to do that if you weren't hurt. You're not strong enough. Now that's the end of this conversation and we're gonna look for another way up." He gave me a rather pointed look before turning again, motioning for me to follow. But I didn't. I couldn't follow. I know that Zhu Ran would have a very good chance of making the climb, as hard as it would be. But me? I was hurt and I was hurt pretty bad. The chances of me making it were much less than the chances of him. But he was wrong when he said that I wasn't strong enough. Frowning heavily, I turned to the sliff again, making sure that my swords were securely in their place before I put my hands on the wall. Then, taking a deep breath, I started to pull myself up and climb.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell are you doing!? What the hell did I just say Lu Xun?!" Zhu Ran yelled after me, heading back over. But I was already above him, out of reach. He was shorter than me after all. Granted it was only by a few inches, but still.

"You said that I wasn't strong enough. Well, I'll let you know that I am just as capable of making it up this cliff as you are," I replied to him between breaths, pulling myself up further. Yes, it was hard, but it wasn't because I wasn't strong. It was simply because of the pain I was in and the obvious discomfort I was causing to my back wound.

"You maniac! Get down from there! Right now!" Zhu Ran yelled to me and I could see him starting to go up after me slightly. However, a moment later I heard a commotion behind us. Obviously Zhu Ran heard it as well because he jumped down and got into a fighting stance.

"Get down. Get down right now Lu Xun," he ordered me and I nodded, starting to go down. But going down was harder than going up because I couldn't see as well. So it took me longer. I wasn't going to attempt jumping, that would hurt me worse. So, I went as much as I could. But when I heard a gasp from Zhu Ran, I started to panic a bit.

"What the hell?" he muttered. I was about to ask him what he was talking about until I heard another voice.

"Take that you rotten thieves!" a high pitched voice yelled, sounding similar to a child. Then there was a rather sharp pain in my hand as something hit it. It made me wince, but then there was another and I lost my though I tried to catch on, it was no use and i was falling with a small yelp of surprise. Zhu Ran's arms on me was what I felt next and then we were tumbling to the ground.

"Lio Tai, what have I told you about this?! You do not attack strangers!" a old mans scolding voice came next and then there were scuttling feet moving towards up. Zhu Ran was under me, groaning as he tried to recover from the tumble we took. I was laid out across his chest on my back, staring up at the sky. A moment later, 5 men's faces were looking down at me with worry in their faces. They looked rather older.

"It looks like you took a little tumble young men. Would you like some assistance?" the oldest man asked, surprising me a bit. But before I could even answer, another one of the men spoke up.

"Yes, we have a village just about a mile from here that you could come rest at if you'd like. You look exhausted and filthy," he spoke, this one looking younger than the others in the group. I could barely even think of words to say as they all started to talk at once, offering us food, shelter and a place to stay for a while. Were...were we saved?


	7. REDOING STORY

I know that I have been away for quite some time, but I would like to let all of your know that I am trying to continue with my stories. I am mainly going to focus on Dynasty Warriors for a while and try to get these stories completed, so if you know me from my Vampire Knight stories, I apologize but it's going to be a longer wait on those. I realize now that I shouldn't have tried to keep up with so many multi chapter stories at one time.

So, for this story I am going to be re writing it because I look at the writing now from 2 years ago and realize it's not the type of writing that I do anymore and the way that i started to tell the story just isn't good in my opinion. So, I will be rewriting it as a new story, it will have the same name and will be on the same account so you guys can go and look for it.

Thank you for you time and patience.


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